The Truth about Car Dealerships

When buying a new car we all have to go to the car dealerships, these dealership only sell one brand so if we want to buy a new Hyundai we would need to go to a Hyundai dealership and if we want to buy a new Honda we would need to go to a Honda dealership and so on. With books we do not go to a book store that only sale Harry Potter books, there is all kinds of books at a book store. This goes for other products as well, clothing while there are some outlet and brand name stores, but there are also some store that sell a different variety of brand name from Nike to Adidas. Then we ask ourselves why can we not get a new car online or have a car store sales different brands of new cars? Here is the answer car dealerships have laws passed banning such practices, the truth is that car dealerships are separate businesses and they are not owned by the car makers.

Since the early days dealership associations have pressured the governments to pass franchise laws that pretty much give these dealerships a monopoly over new car sales. So it is illegal to sales new cars unless you are a car dealership and each dealership and their own turf on where they can sell. This mean that if a dealership own a turf it is illegal to open another dealership in that turf. It is also virtually impossible for car makers to shut down dealership, this is because there are also laws against it. Due to the lack of competition and oversight car dealership can treat us badly. It is also extremely difficult to change the laws because about 20 percent of state sales tax revenue comes from car dealerships. If car manufacturers were able to sale the new cars to consumers directly without the monopoly of car dealerships on average each car would be about $2000 cheaper. Unfortunately because of these franchise laws that is there to protect the dealerships the only way to buy a new car is by going to the car dealerships.

Winter Driving in Cold Weather

In colder climates driving in the winter has its challenges. When we say we hate the cold, in fact so do our vehicles. So the battery will need more power to start the car and at frigid temperatures the battery is also less effective than at normal temperatures. Modern cars do not need to be warmed-up for a long time about 30 seconds and it is good to drive, of course it is also recommended that you do not do any sudden or hard acceleration for the first 3 miles (5 kilometers).

When driving there are things to pack and things not to do, cruise control should not be used on slippery roads, as it can cause the vehicle to hydroplane and lose control. Going slow on the gas because you want to avoid sudden accelerations also it is recommended that you check your wiper blades to make sure that they are in good condition and switch to snow tires for the best performance. Make sure you have a snowbrush with an ice scrapper, an extra jug of windshield water fluid and for the washer fluid you want to make sure it is good for at least -20 F (-30 C). Bring an extra shovel and clothing will also help in case you get stranded on the road. It is also recommended to keep your gas tank full to reduce moisture in the gas tank and also can help with keeping a slower speed due to the extra weight, and in some very cold places some cars have a block heater. A block heater is in the hood of the car and you plug it in and it will keep the engine warm. On a final note just because the road looks safe does not necessarily mean that it is, during the winter we should be very wary of possible black ice. Black ice is hazardous because we cannot really see it, it is a clear thin layer of ice that is slippery.

As we see that driving in the winter time has its challenges. Also remember on a very cold say if you just start your car it will still feel cold for a while until the engine gets warmed up and the heater warms up the temperature in the car.

The Truth about Buying Extended Warranty

There are lots of places where the salesperson will try to sell you an extended warranty after you buy a car. There has been talk that the reason that the salesperson wants to sell you the extended warranty is that the commission on those sales is about 50%. So pretty much the amount of money you pay for the extended warranty is only worth half the price. There have been stories about the companies that sell these warranties will do everything possible to avoid covering damages by using terms on the warranty that are not clear and could be answered in a lot of ways. There was also an incident where an extended warranty was sold and there was an issue with the car and then the company was bankrupt. Extended warranty is pretty much an insurance coverage, even when the dealer sells it to you they are being covered by the insurance policy. The insurance company has a contract with the dealer. The best advice for extended warranty is for quality cars such as Honda or Toyota, we are better off without the warranty and try to save our money by putting it in the bank. For some luxury cars that require a lot of maintenance are breaks down a lot such as Mercedes or Jaguar, I would recommend asking for a warranty from an authorized dealer with a clear written policy. These cars are luxurious, they are not as good of quality compared to Toyota or Honda and they are expensive to fix. Then again now we know about the big expense of these cars with poor quality compared to the price of the car we might just not buy these cars in the first place. At the end of the day the extended warranties benefits the salespeople and hurt the customer, when we think about it and ask ourselves this question, if it was a win for us and a loss for them would they offer it to us? The answer is no.  

Modern German Cars

We might think of German cars as luxurious and high end cars, these cars such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are the ones usually of the first things that pop up in people's minds. A lot of modern German cars do have a lot of great features and have built in technology just because they can. A lot of the users of these cars do not know what half the buttons do. A lot of parts on these cars that used to be metal are now plastic, they do this to cut costs, but that means that the parts on these cars will not last that long and when there is a problem then it will need to be fixed. Fixing these cars do cost a lot, as these cars are expensive to maintain. These modern cars look good on the outside and have great style, but on the inside when you take  a close look at the parts you can see that a lot of the parts are not design to last long. These German cars have gotten cheaper over the years when it comes to purchasing these cars, however if you have a car that constantly needs maintenance and these cars are not cheap to maintain you are basically throwing away your money. Some might argue that if you can buy a high end car you should be able to pay more for maintenance because it is luxurious car. That is a good point, but however I like to argue that if the car is luxurious and a high end car we should expect reasonable quality. Even with these cars being cheaper than before they are still not cheap and are consider a luxury. Do I expect to pay more for even the basic maintenance such as an oil change? The answer is yes absolutely and the price may be a lot higher as well, but I do not expect the car to be breaking down constantly that it needs to be fixed, because that tells me the car's quality is not good. With cars that have the brand name such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi I expect the car to be in reasonable quality, when a mechanic examined a Mercedes that has not had any problems yet, the computer had found a lot of faults with the car. When we look a the Japanese cars we can see their quality and they are cheap to maintain, I believe it is perfectly reasonable to expect a luxurious car to have around the same or better quality than those non luxurious Japanese cars such as Honda and Toyota. I also do believe that it is perfectly reasonable to expect that the luxurious cars will have a higher maintenance cost than those non luxurious cars. There have been a lot of people who have been complaining about the quality of the Mercedes-Benz and that these cars are more about features that are not necessary over quality.

The Difference Between All Wheel Drive (AWD) and Four Wheel Drive (4WD)

The terms all wheel drive and four wheel drive has been used interchangeably and a lot of people assume that they are the same thing. While these two systems are very similar in a lot of perspectives such as they both involve the vehicle driving on all four wheels, but however they are not exactly the same thing. There are some differences between AWD and 4WD. The 4WD systems has been around for quite a while and it is certainly not outdated.

Four Wheel Drive (4WD)

The 4WD is used for a lot if off road driving such as driving over boulders, tackling steep hills with loose low traction surface and to some extent driving over somewhat deep amounts of water. There is part time 4WD and full time 4WD. Modern 4WD systems are either full time and automatic or part time and manual. With full time automatic the vehicle automatically shifts between the two wheel drive and four wheel drive mode. With part time manual the driver is required to shift between the two wheel drive and four wheel drive modes manually. With the part time manual system the vehicle should not be driven on dry pavements with the 4WD system on due to the fact that can cause damage to the drivetrain. Aside from the off road enthusiast most people will not use the full potential of the 4WD system.

All Wheel Drive (AWD)

With all wheel drive it provides power to each corner. Depending on the system the AWD can provide maximum traction during acceleration. When the roads are in terrible condition and driving in some off road terrains this system can be helpful. This system can help getting through loose surfaces such as sand, mud and snow. With AWD the system general delivers power to one set of wheel which can be the front or rear. When there is slippage detected the power will is diverted to the other axle in a way to find more traction. Not AWD systems are created equal some focus more on the front wheels while others fit more on the rear. AWD systems are good for conditions where the road are slippery such as roads with snow or ice.

Now we see that while the AWD and 4WD systems are similar in a lot of ways and has been used interchangeably a lot of times, due to the fact that both systems involve the vehicle driving on all four wheel. But however they are quite of few differences between the two systems.

Front Wheel Drive vs. Rear Wheel Drive vs. All Wheel Drive

When buying a vehicle you probably wonder which kind of car you want to get. Before choosing the make and model you might wonder which wheels this car drives on. There are various reasons on why people will choose how there car drives so here will be the pros and cons between front wheel drive, rear wheel drive and all wheel drive.

Front Wheel Drive:

With front wheel drive the advantages will be that you generally have a cheaper car because it is cheaper to design and build a front wheel drive car. This is due to the fact that the drivetrain is cheaper and easier to install as the car rolls down the assembly line. There is less weight on the front wheel drive cars because there is no need to have a separate transmission and axis assemble like they have in the rear wheel drive. Due to the less weight of the cars it will help with the vehicle economy. Front wheel drives have better traction in snow and rain compared to rear wheel drives. The front wheels pull the car rather than the rear wheels push the car, and on top of that the engine and axle is at the front of the vehicle which also results in a better grip.

The cons to front wheel drive is that they are nose-heavy which can make them harder to handle than rear wheel drive. Front wheel drive cars have to do two thing at once which is put power to the ground and steer the car. This is not optimal for high performance car because as the car accelerates the front wheel may jerk left or right. Front wheel drive vehicle are more fragile. The half shaft and constant velocity joints are more susceptible to damage compared to a rugged lump of cast iron found in a rear wheel drive's solid axle. The rear wheel drive axle may outlast the car and may require the occasional service, however the chances that the front wheel drive will need new constant velocity joint or something else during the years is far more likely. 

Rear Wheel Drive:

The pros to rear wheel drive will be that rear wheel drives usually have a solid axle design, so by accidentally hitting a curb or a deep pothole the chances are that you will not break anything compared to the front wheel drives. Hitting a curb or pothole with a front wheel drive will have a lot higher chance of something expensive being damaged. The rear wheel drive vehicles offer better balance this will result in better handling. With front wheel drives the weight of the engine and transaxle is at the front of the car over the front wheels. With rear wheel drive the weight of the drivetrain spreads more even from the front to rear.

The cons of rear wheel drive is that they are the worst performers in bad weather. Even with modern traction control the rear wheel drive will likely have the worst traction in rain or snow.

All Wheel Drive:

All wheel drive vehicles offer the advantages of the rear wheel drive and front wheel drive vehicles while at the same time minimizing their weaknesses. Another big advantage to all wheel drive is that they give better traction in both on dry pavement and bad weather. This is the reason why all wheel drive attract both the performance mind enthusiasts and the people who do not want to get stuck in the snow. All wheel drive vehicles do a good job of balancing and handling driving dynamics. Some all wheel drive systems are based off the rear wheel drive, while others are based of the front wheel drive. The ones based on rear wheel drive have slightly better performance.

The disadvantages of all wheel drive are the fact that there is extra weight that needs to be added to the vehicle. With the same make and model that all wheel drive the vehicle will be several hundred pounds heavier than a vehicle that is not all wheel drive. This will result in high fuel consumption, especially if there is added power to the engine to compensate for the extra weight. Also the vehicle will be more expensive if it is all wheel drive, this is of course the same make and model brand new. The are more components so more things will need to be serviced. As the vehicle gets older it might be more expensive to fix due to the components. 

The Hidden Cost of Luxury Cars

When we see we finally have the budget to buy a luxury we feel that now we can buy the car and enjoy. The majority of the people do look at the asking price up front to determine the value of the vehicle. A lot of people probably haven't looked at the long term maintenance the can come with some of the luxury cars. Some of these cars the oil change can be quite expensive, it is not called an oil change officially, but called an "A service". A lot of luxury cars require premium gas, which mean you will have to pay more at the pumps or cause the car engine damage. For one fill up there might not be a big difference, but overtime that difference will build up. With modern luxury cars that are more computer there are a lot of buttons that a lot of their owner so not know what they do. If there is a part that goes wrong it usually can only be bought from the dealer, which they can charge you a huge amount for. A lot of parts on luxury cars cost more than the parts on normal cars. These things show that owning a luxury car also has its higher cost in the long term. Before buying a luxury car people also need to look at the potential cost of fixing the car before they buy the car.